Faceless one
Faceless ones, also known as the faceless, are mysterious and powerful monsters which are closely connected to the Old Gods. They were first seen in Azjol-Nerub during the events of Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. History Countless aeons ago, the faceless ones waged endless wars against each other as part of the forces of N'Zoth, C'Thun and Yogg-Saron. The Old Gods have since been imprisoned by the titans and oceans of time have passed, yet the faceless still serve the will of the Old Ones. Their numbers are endless and their power is beyond reckoning, but they were imprisoned alongside their masters deep beneath the earth. Reawakening in Northrend Amid the Scourge's invasion of Azjol-Nerub, many of the kingdom's denizens tunneled underground to escape the Lich King's minions. Yet some of them dug too deep, exposing the tendrils of Yogg-Saron. Rousing its awareness, the Old God sent his Faceless ones under the leadership of Herald Volazj against them, and the nerubians were caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place. The nerubians' misfortune costed them the war against the undead, and ultimately, their home. The Frozen Throne During the desperate flight of Arthas Menethil and the crypt lord Anub'arak to defend the Lich King from Illidan Stormrage and his armies, the Scourge were forced to make their way through the ancient, underground Nerubian kingdom of Azjol-Nerub. At first, the invading undead army preyed only on the pockets of still living Nerubian resistance fighters and dwarves that were left over from Arthas' last journey to Northrend. Yet, as Anub'arak and Arthas journeyed ever deeper into these ruins, they found that the lower regions of the kingdom had become infested by "ancient, horrid things", as the dwarf leader Baelgun had described them, released from the dark below by the earthquakes that were being caused by Illidan's sorcery. These beings appeared as strange, vaguely humanoid creatures, and were accompanied by massive tentacles that seemed to be a part of a single, monstrous entity which Anub'arak referred to as a "Forgotten one". The crypt lord seemed to know of these creatures, but was startled to discover they truly existed and warned Arthas to "Look to your defenses, death knight! Fight as you've never fought before!". The two champions of the Lich King and their Scourge forces managed to barely defeat the forgotten one, but as ever more faceless emerged from the deeps to stalk the undead army and the caverns began collapsing under the flailing of the massive tentacles, Arthas and Anub'arak were forced to flee from Azjol-Nerub. Eventually, Arthas made it out of fallen kingdom and was able to confront Illidan, but not until making it through the greatest peril he had yet faced. World of Warcraft: The Comic Theramore came under attack from a Faceless One that had been awakened by Cho'gall to take Med'an with him. During the battle, Med'an intuitively wove together arcane and shamanic magic to defeat the ancient creature. Wrath of the Lich King Multiple faceless ones appear including Herald Volazj, the leader of the Old God's forces, and Darkspeaker R'khem. Faceless ones are also encountered underneath Icecrown Citadel in a place called Naz'anak: The Forgotten Depths. Killing the Faceless Lurkers there is required for the quest 'Time to Hide'. In Ulduar, faceless ones are led by General Vezax guarding the twisted passages leading to the Prison of Yogg-Saron. Cataclysm New faceless ones can be found throughout the Abyssal Depths region of Vashj'ir and inside the Throne of the Tides. The Old Gods provided the faceless ones to help aid the Naga. They were called upon by the Naga to aid in the fight against Neptulon along with Ozumat. Faceless ones can also be found in others region of Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms like Darkshore, Ashenvale, Stonetalon Mountains, Swamp of Sorrows and Twilight Highlands. Erudax serves as boss in Grim Batol and is involved in producing Twilight Hatchlings. A faceless one also appears in the Lost Isles commanding the Naga there against the goblins. The goblins, however, believe him to be a deformed naga. Several faceless ones have begun appearing in ambushes directed during important events on important figures, it is unknown how these clever infiltrators managed to bypass their unsuspecting foes. One example of defection into faceless ones ranks exist in Major Samuelson, who secretly betrayed the Alliance and became swayed by the powers of the Old Gods, turning him into a faceless one. Warlord Zon'ozz and Yor'sahj the Unsleeping appeared in the maws in Dragonblight during the race against Deathwing and were killed by the adventurers. Appearance Standard faceless one Faceless ones are vaguely humanoid creatures who, as the name implies, have no discernible faces insofar as other races recognize them. One arm is much larger than the other, grotesque and misshapen, while the other is little more than a prehensile tentacle. Aquatic faceless one A type of underwater faceless one that, unlike their Northrend brethren, have much bigger eyes. Faceless spellcaster A type of faceless caster that wear masks and has thinner tentacle arms than other types of Faceless one. Faceless general Faceless generals are massive faceless with a hardened shell, among other differences. They seem to be the leaders of the faceless ones. File:StandardFaceless.jpg|Standard faceless one File:AquaticFaceless.jpg|Aquatic faceless one File:FacelessGeneral.jpg|Faceless general Communication The faceless ones speak a "language" which no race on Azeroth is capable of understanding or pronouncing. The only known example of this language is Herald Volazj. His strange utterings are somehow translated directly into the minds of nearby players through telepathic whispers. Darkspeaker R'khem also communicates with other beings by projecting telepathic thoughts into their mind, together with a wave of soothing, euphoric feelings that are mixed with a sense of pain. After completing 'Mind Tricks', he disappears with a noise that is translated as laughter in the player's mind. Faceless Lurkers sometimes utter "Shur'nab... shur'nab... Yogg-Saron!" when assaulting their victims, which never appears to be accompanied by telepathic whispers, so it seems only powerful faceless ones can express themselves in this manner. RPG Tales say they lived in Azjol-Nerub long before the Scourge came, dwelling too deep for the nerubians to hunt them. The strange faceless ones are ancient monsters long imprisoned beneath the ice and recently loosed again. Faceless ones have a long magical heritage. They draw upon their race's legacy of arcane spellcasting traditions to increase their power. Although faceless ones have a racially low intellect, they have a strong heritage of necromantic magic. A second passage into the Old Kingdom has been discovered by the Scourge, and Baelgun knows the faceless ones will overpower even the undead and then be free to escape into Northrend proper, and so he vows to stop them. Inspiration It is possible that Blizzard based the Faceless Ones loosely on the Illithids from Dungeons & Dragons. Both are evil races with affinity for magic and telepathy. Also, Illithids and Faceless Ones both have been described as slimy humanoids with "almost octopus-like heads", and both races live traditionally underground and are feared by most land-dwellers. It is likely that both creatures are based on H. P. Lovecraft's shared Cthulhu Mythos. Trivia/Notes *After the death of a faceless one, its brains are still pulsing. *Faceless ones seem to use a jellyfish-like creature as a mount. On one map of the Throne of the Tides there is a picture of a Faceless one riding a jellyfish. *In Warcraft III two subgroups of Faceless ones were used: The Faceless Ones and the Unbroken. *During the quest 'Surrender or Else!', the Faceless of the Deep claims to remember when the goblin race was created, indicating that they have very long a life span. Credits *The entirety of this article comes directly from Wowpedia. The article can be viewed here. *The artwork on this article is official and was created by Blizzard Entertainment and/or their affiliates. Category:Races Category:Humanoids Category:Creatures Category:Aberrations